Chinese New Year Origami Year of the Sheep class project

A sleeping sheep dreams atop a pile of rocks and is covered in a grass-print blanket and pillow

A close-up view of the Zodiac Green Sheep and the sweaters he is dreaming of which spin around when touched!

A top view of the entire project with clouds set above the sweaters with spacers.

This week's Origami project: Chinese New Year Zodiac animal, the green sheep! The sheep rests atop a pile of rocks and covers himself inside a grass-print sleeping bag and matching pillow case. The rocks and grass are my own photographs which I used to make signature paper patterns for this project. The sheep is dreaming of sweaters floating by beneath the cloud-covered skies. The sweaters are adhered to a paper plate which can be spun around to add a fun action-oriented aspect to the project. The Origami models are my own designs.

Magnificent Magnolias in bloom!

Photographs of some incredible plants at San Francisco Botanical Garden

First Origami Mami class project of 2015: Monarch Butterflies in an Eucalyptus grove with movable wings!

This is the very first Origami class project of the year: Monarchs in an Eucalyptus grove! I was inspired by a recent visit to Natural Bridges Butterfly Preserve in Santa Cruz where I had the opportunity to experience the high time of the monarch overwintering! I took this experience home and used it as inspiration for this project. The Eucalyptus tree print is my own photograph and the leaves are my own illustration I designed specifically for the project. The monarch paper print comes from an image of a monarch cluster I found on the web. I used this image to create my own Origami monarch paper design! The Origami butterfly design is my own and is super simple to fold. I then attached strings from the upper wings of the butterflies and pushed them through to the back side where once pulled, makes the butterfly wings move on the front side. It is like a mini butterfly puppet show! The kids really enjoy action-packed projects so I try to add some kinetic elements wherever I can.